Developed by Absodo Studio, ‘A Plague Tale: Requiem’ embarks on an emotional and heartrending journey into a brutal, plague-ridden, and breathtaking world as you discover what it takes to save those you love in a desperate struggle for survival.

After escaping their devastated homeland, Amicia and Hugo travel far south, to new regions and vibrant cities, where they attempt to start anew and control Hugo’s curse. Unfortunately, Hugo’s powers have re-awoken, and death and destruction return in a flood of devouring rats. Forced to flee again, with only a prophesied island giving them hope in saving Hugo and everyone they love, they must carry on.

The emotional rollercoaster A Plague Tale sends you on is something that I really enjoy about this series. The way the characters interact and rebound off each other throughout, it’s just something that really fascinates me. The amount of effort Absodo Studio has put into telling the story of these 2 orphans trying their best to survive an uncontrollable plague, the sickness in themselves, and having to do things they aren’t proud of, but have to do in order to survive is immense. The story development is definitely the strongest part of the ‘A Plague Tale’ series, amongst the other great features it has to offer.

Taking control of Amicia, Hugo’s older sister and now protector once again, you will find she has most of her tools and skills from the first game. She has her trusty sling and alchemical concoctions created by their mother’s apprentice, Lucas. It is a very familiar setting for fans of ‘Innocence’.

As you start off with a small tutorial to remind you of the controls and mechanics of stealth, it’s not long after you find yourself in trouble again, and from there onward soon running from the plague and dealing with whatever gets in your way once again. Before this, you’ll find yourself in the menus with the usual difficulty selection, easy, normal, and hard, and later on, unlocking a more challenging difficulty, if you dare to take it on.

Filled with stealth mechanics, combat, and puzzles, the key was a nice balance between all. Stealth isn’t my strong suit in games, there is the option to brute force your way through. This can be just as challenging as just sneaking past the guards as Amicia isn’t really a fighter, so having to combine all your skills, alchemy, and accuracy with your sling, can be quite the task itself. In some parts of the game where you have to fight off a few enemies in a small area, it was quite difficult and clumsy, maybe a little too difficult at times, this is where I found myself dying the most.

This, later on, comes a little easier when you manage to find yourself a crossbow, which isn’t only used for combat but can be used to aid you in other ways, like puzzles, and getting past those pesky plague-ridden rats. The crossbow isn’t the only new aid in your journey, you might get accompanied by some new companions that might just help you get through some challenging sections. For me, Absodo Studio definitely did a better job balancing all this than they did in the original of the franchise.

Requiem is a very linear game with its pathing, and storytelling, there are still secrets to find off the beaten track, flowers for Amicia’s hair, which always brings a smile to Hugo’s face, or a feather from a bird for Hugo’s pin to give him that much-needed courage. These are just small things that make a big impression on the heart and are basically small interactions with objects in the world, which give you a small bit of dialogue like a memory, for a small keepsake.

Running from the rats is exhilarating, and horrifying, when you have a stampede, or avalanche of flesh-hungry rats on your tail, feeling like you’re in an action movie much like Indiana Jones, running away from that boulder. It does look a little unusual having so many rats coming down after you, but this story seems to go a little deeper than just a “plague” with an almost supernatural feel if you ask me. Maybe this plague is deeper than we think. With so many rats you can expect a few performance issues, and I did have a few frame drops when there was a lot going on and a small freeze, but other than that it was a very smooth experience on my Xbox Series X.

The graphics paint a picture of such a beautiful world that was but destroyed by the plague. The scenery in ‘Requiem’ is astonishing, beautiful, and damn right well-designed. I found myself taking screenshots left and right with the photo mode, blending the settings to get that amazing shot. You can also do it during cutscenes, quite interesting really, flying around in camera mode during a part of the game you usually can’t.

Accompanied by a great composed soundtrack, with more aggressive scores in adventurous and/or invigorating moments, and nail-biting tunes for those more intense and stealthy moments. With great dialogue, storytelling, and interaction between the characters, the voice acting was on point. It gave me all kinds of emotions as I played through the dark yet heartfelt story of Amicia and Hugo.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is a brilliant sequel. I enjoyed every moment of it from its sneaking around, dark and sad moments, to the happy times the characters have in between with the twists along the way, all throughout until its conclusion. This is a definite recommendation for anyone who enjoyed or even didn’t mind the previous title, ‘A Plague Tale: Innocence’. I am really looking forward to what Absodo Studio has to offer down the line and in the future.

Written by: MrVibeAU